Friday, April 14, 2017

The Patriarchy’s White Privilege History of Yet Another Colonialist Outrage

Following criticism for how the first segment neglected the earliest settlements of Canada in Labrador and Nova Scotia and offended Quebecers sensitivities about how revered explorer Samuel De Champlain was portrayed in a documentary to commemorate Canada's 150th Anniversary - the CBC is in more hot water.

National Post commentator Kelly McParland suggested the ahistorical documentary produced by the national broadcaster CBC should be titled ‘The Patriarchy’s White Privilege History of Yet Another Colonialist Outrage’.

Unlike a previous, well-regarded CBC documentary laboriously produced in 2001 viewers were warned NOT to expect "a comprehensive, linear account of Canada’s history, but a 10-part look at some of the incredible people who helped make Canada the country it is today.”

McParland notes that "On the surface it’s a hackneyed attempt to rev up some interest in the past. But underlying that is a subversive lesson about the absurdity of the navel-gazing, identity-ridden, obsequiously self-flagellating world we’ve allowed to rise up around us and suffocate rational thought."